Lights, electronic displays, or sounds have all been previously combined with articles of footwear. Some of these features are activated by a wearer's movement of the wearer's own foot and not by any manual operation or mental participation of the features by the wearer, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,096,607, 7,494,237, 8,641,220, 8,469,535, and 8,087,801, and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/782,587, 12/514,261, and 13/454,460. Other articles of footwear lack features where a user can actively engage these features in a thought-provoking activity. Many of these added features to articles of footwear may be simply for decoration, playing sounds, playing voices or playing music. Examples of such prior art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,114,822, 7,178,929, 7,329,019, 7,494,237, 7,866,066, 8,650,764, 8,769,836, and 8,641,220, and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/443,485, 10/782,587, 10/885,599, and 13/198,136.
One shoe as presented in U.S. Pat. No. 7,748,144 is a shoe shaped as a toy car. The shoe has buttons which initiates car noises and flashes attached lights. A wearer of the shoe has minimal interaction with this shoe as the features are only part of a toy and the shoe provides little to no instruction to the wearer as to which features should be operated at any given time or specified manner. The wearer is only relegated to pushing buttons in any order, and will ultimately become bored by the lack of interactive engagement with these shoe components.
Another shoe has a maze with a moveable ball where a wearer attempts to direct the ball through fixed walls of the maze. The wearer controls the ball by either moving their foot while wearing the shoe or by taking off the shoe and moving the shoe manually. Refer to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/454,460. Once the ball reaches the end of the maze, the shoe lights up and emits sounds. This shoe requires either the wearer to focus on the motor control of their foot or the physical movement of the shoe. The shoe only provides the wearer direction with the fixed walls of the maze. The walls of the maze cannot be altered or randomly rearranged. The wearer is confined to follow the same path each time. The lights and sounds on the shoe are configured to only light up when the ball reaches a certain point on the maze. The shoe does not require the wearer's understanding, logic, ability to retain information, and mental acuity.
Electronic games associated with shoes are primarily related to a wearer of the shoe moving around their foot. There is an absence of interactive activities that are integrated with shoes in which the activity does not require a wearer of the interactive activity to move around the user's own foot. At times, it is also better that the child remains in one position and still be entertained, rather than moving around or kicking their feet. Also, there are no interactive activities integrated on footwear that allow the wearer to control varying signal modes, e.g. turning the sound, lights, or vibration mode on or off, that are used to instruct the wearer in how the wearer can participate with the interactive system. Such features also allow the game to be played in a manner that does not disturb others. Furthermore, there have been no articles of footwear with an electronic game that is programmed to interact with the user such that the user is prompted to think about the game's instructions and act in accordance with the game's instruction.
Keeping children engaged in activities is a perpetually daunting task for parents, teachers, and caretakers. There is a need for having thought provoking and educational activities that are conveniently available to children at all times and do not require any additional transport of a toy or item that is physically separate from a child's everyday apparel. Transport of additional toys or items may result in the item being lost or stolen. The convenience of a portable interactive game that is integrated into a child's shoe enables children to have easy access to activities that develop their minds at any time throughout the day.